The truth comes out
by Hotness-and-music
Summary: Katniss a girl that is left scared, is dealing with live as a rape victim. But will new kid Peeta be able to save her, or will her world come crashing down. Join her as she trys to survive life in a modern world as a teen mum.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys, so this is my new story. Let me know what you think and if you want me to continue.**

Katniss POV.

"Hi my name is Katniss, I'm 17 and I have a 2 and a half year old daughter" I told the support group.

"Hi Katniss" They said back. This group was for people that needed mental help. Do I need mental help? You could say that, I still have flashbacks of the man that raped me. The father of my daughter.

"Katniss?" I was brought out of my thoughts by Cinna, the person that was running this group and my therapist.

"Yeah?" I asked him.

"I asked if you wanted to talk about your experience." He asked me and I shook my head.

"Okay, how about your daughter?" Cinna asked and I nodded.

"My daughter Willow, she is the cutest thing in the world and I love her to pieces, even though she is a reminder of what happened to me I will never make her feel bad or unwanted. She's just learning to talk and she is so excitable, but also quiet and caring. She's my life" I told the group and Cinna smiled at me, I only ever opened up to people when I spoke about Willow or Prim, my sister.

"Good job Katniss, and how about school?" Cinna asked, school was a tricky subject for me.

"School is...well unusual, people know that I have a daughter but that's all, they think I'm some slut. I have a few friends that have stuck by me through everything and know that I was...you know...but that's about it" I said and then that was it for the amount of speaking I did for that group.

The next day.

"Katniss, it's time to get up, you don't want to be late for school" My sister Prim said. Prim was amazing when it came to dealing with me and also Willow. I got out of bed and went to check Willow; she was still sleeping in her crib, so I went to take a shower.

I re-emerged a few minutes later and Willow was awake, I picked her up and walked out into the kitchen and put her in her play pen.

"Morning Mum" I said to my mum who was making some eggs from breakfast.

"Morning Katniss, are you ready for school?" She asked.

"No not really, I just wanna sleep" I said to my mum.

"My poor baby" My mum said and opened her arms to give me a hug which I accepted. Even since my father's death when I was 11 my mum went into a state of depression, but that ended just after I was raped, she saw that I was damaged and needed her and she slowly started to come back. Now she works at the hospital as a doctor and earns enough to support the 4 of us without me needing to work anymore.

"I have to leave soon, so I'll drop Willow off at the day care and you can pick her up after school?" My mum asked me after we stopped hugging.

"Yeah, and I'll take Prim to school" I said and Mum nodded.

"Prim, are you almost finished?" I yelled to my sister.

"Yeah, just give me a minute to find my homework" Prim yelled back. My mum laughed and went to pack Willows bag for day care. I picked her up and went to change her clothes. Since it was warm I put her in a little red dress and some little tiny sneakers.

I went outside and put Willow in her car seat in my mum's car while my mum followed me with Willow's bag. I buckled her in, kissed her goodbye and then waved bye to my mum as she drove out of the driveway.

"Come on Prim, we gotta go" I yelled to her. Prim was 14 years old and had started high school this year. She was fine with school, everyone loved her even though she was my sister people didn't treat her differently. They treated me differently, I used to be the popular girl that would speak her mind and stand up for herself, now I just wanted to blend into the lockers.

Prim finally got into the car and away we drove. We arrived 10 minutes later and Prim waved goodbye and walked into the freshman area, I walked into the senior area. The school was set out so that it went from left to right freshman area, sophomore/junior area and lastly the senior area.

I walked to my locker and put my bag in my locker.

"Hey Kat" Clove yelled.

"Hey Clove" I said once she walked over to me. Clove and I have been friends for ages, we started kinder together and became best friends instantly, I only had about 5 friends that I can count on and that know what happened; Gale, Madge, Annie, Jo and Clove.

"I heard there's this new kid starting here" Clove told me, she thought it was her job to make sure I was up to date on school gossip.

"Great so I'm guessing the first thing they learn about me is that I'm some teen mum slut" I said, venom in my voice.

"No, I'll kill the person that tells anyone that, and people wouldn't think that of you if you told them the truth" Clove said.

"No one has ever asked me who Willow's father is, and you know me, I don't share stuff with people it took me months to open up to Cinna" I told Clove. The bell rang and we walked to homeroom together. We got to class and sat at the back, it made it harder for people to look at me but they still managed. Haymitch was Clove and mine's Homeroom teacher and history teacher. I trust Haymitch; he was a good friend of my Dad's so he knows what happened to me.

"If you'll all direct your attention to the front of the room we have a few announcements" Haymitch said and everyone that was sneaking looks at me turned to the front. I gave Haymitch a small smile as thanks.

"Alright, we have a new student. What's your name kid?" Haymitch asked and a guy walked in. He has blonde hair and blue eyes and has a stocky build with some pretty impressive muscles. _'Stop it Katniss, you promised that you wouldn't even look at another man' _

"Peeta Mellark" Peeta said and looked around the room.

"Alright Peeta, I'm gonna get Clove to show you around, there's a spare seat next to Katniss in the back" Clove looked at me and gave me a questioning look and I shrugged, who knew what Haymitch had planned. Peeta made his way to the back of the room.

"Hi Peeta, I'm Clove I'll be showing you around" Clove said and looked at me and gave me a look that said be nice.

"Hi Clove, nice to meet you. And are you Katniss?" Peeta asked looking at me.

"Yeah, hi welcome to hell, also known as high school" I said and Peeta chuckled quietly. He sat down in the seat next to me. Peeta and Clove chatted through homeroom; I just drew on my blinder.

Homeroom ended and I got up and waited for Clove and Peeta.

"So Peeta, what do you have now?" Clove asked.

"Umm art in A7" _shit._

"Oh Katniss, you have that class" Clove said and Peeta gave me a small smile.

"Yeah, I can take you there" I said to him.

"Okay, well I'll meet you guys there after first period" Clove said and she walked off to her English class with her boyfriend Cato. Peeta and I walked to class occasionally speaking but I stopped once I passed Glimmer. Her and I used to be friends, until I had Willow. She was just one of the many people I now call ex friends.

"Slut" Glimmer yelled to me as I walked past, I had gotten used to being called this but it still brought tears to my eyes. Peeta looked at Glimmer and then at me.

"Why did she call you a slut?" Peeta asked, I didn't answer I just looked up and blinked trying to get rid of the tears in my eyes.

"Katniss?" Peeta asked, we had gotten to the art room and before we walked in I said quietly but loud enough for Peeta to hear.

"Because I have a 2 year old daughter" I said before I walked into class leaving a confused and surprised Peeta standing at the door.


	2. Chapter 2

Katniss POV

I ignored Peeta that whole period, I just concentrated on my work however once the bell I couldn't just leave him so I waited until Clove got here.

"Hey guys, how was art?" Clove asked looking at the two of us.

"Alright" I said and then walked off to Math leaving Clove and Peeta behind. Since Clove and Annie had Math with me I didn't have to wait long for Annie but Clove was a different story.

"Clove, you late to class" Effie Trinket yelled at Clove when she walked in the door.

"Yeah I know" Clove said and kept walking to her seat barely analogizing that Effie was talking to her.

"Would you like to explain to me why you're 20 minutes late?" Effie said in her annoying accent. I thought she was about to start tapping her foot.

"No not really Miss" Clove said imitating Effie's accent.

"She was showing a new student around" Annie spoke up, Annie always seemed to save people from getting in huge trouble from teachers, I think it was because they all loved her.

"Oh thanks you Annie and Clove _tsk tsk _Manners!" Effie said and then went back to talking about the importance of graphing.

"You told him you have a kid?" Clove yelled/whispered and Annie who was actually listening to Effie looked at me like I was crazy.

"Yeah I did, because he would of heard it from someone else so I thought I'd beat the rest of the school" I told them, the only good thing about having Effie as a teacher is she gets so caught up in herself or what she's saying that she doesn't notice us talking or texting and she passes everyone, no matter how bad they failed on a test.

"Does this mean you're going to start telling people the truth about everything?" Annie asked.

"No, just because I told some new kid that I have a daughter doesn't mean that I'm going to start letting all my deepest secrets out." I said without breathing. Annie placed her hand on top of mine and I flinched.

"Sorry" Annie said, I still wasn't that great with human contact, however my Mum and sister were a different story, I knew that they would never hurt me and that they would always be there for me, but friends I wasn't too sure about.

"It's alright" I muttered back. No one spoke for the rest of the lesson and finally the bell went. History went past in a blur and I walked to Annie's locker

"I've got to go and get Peeta, he's with Gale and Madge right now" Clove said and left. Annie and I walked in comfortable silence as we made our way into the cafeteria and sat at our usual table in the back furthest away from the rest of the seniors. After a few minutes Madge, Jo and Gale came.

"Where's Clove?" Annie asked.

"She's with Peeta and Cato, look her she comes now" Gale said and pointed behind Annie's head. Gale sat next to me and Cato and Clove sat opposite me, leaving the only open spot for Peeta to sit on the other side of me.

"Peeta you can sit down, we don't bite" Madge said and gave Peeta a small smile. Peeta sat down next to me and Jo started asking questions.

"So Peeta, how do you like it here?" Jo asked.

"It's alright, a lot smaller than my old school but its good" Peeta said.

"So play any sports?" Jo asked and Clove, Cato and Gale looked up from their food waiting for his answer.

"Yeah I play basketball and soccer but mostly it's wrestling" Peeta said.

"This school is all about the extra circular activities, so music, art, sport, you name it and there is most likely a team or upcoming event for it" Madge said.

"We'll have to play a game sometime soon Peeta, I wanna see how good you are at basketball" Gale said and Cato nodded in agreement. Cato was a difficult person to put a tag on, he used to be like my older brother, but then I had Willow and he got very distant. It wasn't until he started dating Clove that he hung out with me more, but it's not the same we are both more guarded, not letting everything come out. I realised that the conversation had broken off into little ones, Clove and Cato off in their bubble and Annie, Jo, Madge and Gale talking about god knows what. I was use to this, I haven't spoken much but I felt bad because Peeta was sitting next to me.

"So you're into art?" I asked Peeta, mentally cursing myself for sounding like an idiot.

"Yeah I love it" Peeta said and that shocked me, usually in this group I was the only person that was into art and music, the rest were all sporty people. I mean don't get me wrong I can give you a run for your money on track and I'm an amazing shot at archery but music always seemed to be the thing that I was drawn to most.

"You seem surprised?" Peeta ask.

"Um yeah most people don't like art; they only take it because it's an easy class to pass" I said and Peeta smiled. _He has an amazing smile, the way it makes his eyes shine and his whole face just lights up...Katniss what are you doing, stop it._

"Katniss Everdeen to the office" The voice over the intercom said and I sighed. I got up and made my way out of the cafeteria with a lot of looks from everyone. When I got to the office I saw my Mum and Willow.

"Mum, what's going on?" I asked her. When Willow heard my voice she looked around for me and once she found me her cute little face broke into the biggest grin.

"Hey Katniss, I'm really sorry but there was this child at the day care that got really sick so all of the kids had to be picked up early, yeah I know it's stupid but it's just a rule or regulation or something like that" My mum said and I walked over to her and took told of Willow.

"Hello Willow" I said and she giggled in response

"How are you?" I asked her.

"Good good good" Willow said back and gave me one of her cute smiles.

"I've cleared it with the school; they are okay with Willow being in your last two classes" My mum said and I looked over at the woman that works in the office and she nodded giving me an all clear look.

"Okay, well I have to get back to work so I'll see you when I finish work tonight" My mum said.

"Bye Mum" I said.

"Say bye bye to Gran" I said to Willow.

"Bye bye Gran" Willow said and waved at mum as she walked out the door. I looked at the clock and saw that there was over half an hour left of lunch, I sighed and walked back to my locker. I put Willow's bag in there and then took out my phone and texted Clove.

K: Hey Clove.

C: Hey Kat, what happened, why were you called to the office?

K: Because Willow is hear

C: What! Why is Willow here?

K: she got sent home early from Day care and my mum had to stay at work so she's at school with me.

C: Where are you?

K: I'm at my locker.

C: Okay I see you in a second

"Momma" Willow said.

"Yes baby?" I asked.

"Nothing" Willow said and then laughed.

"Katniss" Clove yelled and I turned around to see my friends walking towards me.

"Hey guys, Willow do you remember these people?" I asked as they walked closer.

"Clowvy" Willow said in excitement.

"Oh yeah that's right, she remembers me first" Clove said.

"Yeah she definitely remembers you 'Clowvy'" Jo said and the rest laughed.

"Uncle Gale!" Willow shouted and everyone laughed.

"Hey kiddo" Gale said and gave Willow a big grin.

"Where's Peeta?" I asked looking around realising that Peeta wasn't here.

"You guys didn't leaving him alone did you?" I asked them and Madge laughed.

"Katniss how cold do you think we are? He wanted to see the gym so Cato took him" Madge said.

"Yeah brainless, and then Clove got the text from you" Jo finished.

"Oh" was all I said.

"Come on, I want to get to class early" I said, I really didn't feel like walking into a full room with Willow and having people looking at me like I'm some slut.

"Yeah sure, I told Peeta I'd take him to his class so I'll see you all later." Clove said and walked away with Jo, Madge and Annie. I had the next period without my friends but Gale would always walk me to my class. He was my best friend and the older brother I always wanted.

"So Willow how was day care?' Gale asked while we walked to my music class, this was by far my favourite class, I could sit at the back of the class and just listen to music and feel peaceful. There were only 9 students in this class so the 8 other people left me alone.

"Good, I painted" Willow said.

"I can tell your pretty red dress looks like a rainbow" Gale said and poked Willow in her sides making her scream and laugh. We arrived at my classroom.

"Say bye to Uncle Gale" I told Willow and she looked at me like I was nuts, she loves Gale to pieces.

"Why?" Willow said, her bottom lip shaking.

"Don't worry, I'll be back soon" Gale said which calmed Willow down.

"Okey Dokey, bye bye Gale" Willow said and blew Gale a kiss.

"Bye Willow, see you later Katniss" Gale said and he walked away to his next class.

"Bye Gale" I said a second too late. I walked inside the classroom and saw my teacher at her desk.

"Afternoon Katniss, and who's this?" Paylor asked her eyes landing on Willow who was clutching to my side.

"Hi, I'm Willow" Willow said with a triumph grin on her face.

"Hello Willow, my name is Miss Paylor, it's nice to meet you" Paylor said. I took my regular seat as the bell went for the end of lunch. I had Willow sitting on my lap which meant that she wasn't noticeable at first glance, but her Reddish Brown hair made you look again.

"Willow I'm going to need you to be really really quiet for a bit" I asked her and she looked at me.

"Why?" she asked, obviously confused.

"Because when you're at school you need to be really quiet, as quiet as a mouse" I told Willow.

"Okay Momma" Willow agreed and I smiled.

"Thank you baby, and when we get home I'll give you a lollypop" I told her a she smiled. The rest of the class soon started arriving and no one had noticed Willow, but then Peeta and Clove showed up at the door.

"Hey Miss, this is Peeta, he's new and in the class" Clove said, her eyes skimming the room and landing on me she smiled and winked.

"Ah yes Peeta Mellark, thanks Clove you can go to class now" Paylor said and beckoned for Peeta to walk over to her desk.

"Peeta, do you know anyone in this class?" Paylor asked and his eye's skimmed the class and landed on me for a second.

"Yeah I do" Peeta said.

"Okay please go and choose a seat" Paylor said. Peeta walked to the back of the class and took a seat next to me, but didn't look at me I guessed still embarrassed from early today.

"Alright, I want you to break off into groups and work on your group pieces, make sure you use the practise rooms, they are there for you. Peeta you and Katniss are now a group, choose a song and change it, mix it around, do whatever you want to it so that it really represents the two of you. The class broke off into their groups and moved into the practise rooms. Willow was looking around at everything, a look of amazement on her face but she still hasn't said anything which is good.

"Hi, I'm Willow" Willow said to Peeta, who wasn't even looking at me. Spoke to soon. Peeta looked up confused as to who had just spoken; he looked at me and laid eyes on Willow for the first time. He smiled taking in her words.

"Hello Willow, I'm Peeta" Peeta said, I was surprised that he was looking at me like I was different he had the same happy caring look that he had this morning.

"Peeta, I made my dress look pretty" Willow said ad pointed to her dress and Peeta chuckled, I liked the sound of his laugh.

"Do you like to draw Willow?" Peeta asked and Willow smiled at him.

"Yes!" Willow yelled and I smiled.

"Me too, I love drawing" Peeta said. I handed Willow a pencil and placed her on my desk with a piece of paper.

"Draw something for Peeta honey" I said to Willow and she did, I got up and headed over to the piano. I started playing a song quietly while Willow and Peeta drew.

"Momma, will you sing?" Willow asked and I looked up and saw her and Peeta looking at me.

"Sure baby, what would you like me to sing?" I asked her.

"Auntie Prim's song!" Willow yelled to me.

"Okay baby sure thing" I told her and begun with my fingers on the piano keys.

(The Fray- You Found Me)

While I was playing the song Willow was drawing but Peeta was looking at me, watching me intently.

'_Lost and insecure, you found me, you found me' _Peeta's and my eyes met and he gave me a dazzling smile that made my heart beat faster.

"That was amazing" Peeta said after I'd finished.

"You're an amazing singer" Peeta told me and I blushed.

"Thanks" I told him. He picked up Willow and sat her down on the Piano.

"Momma you're beautiful" Willow said while she sat on top of the piano.

"Not as beautiful as you" I told her and she smiled at me. Peeta hadn't stopped looking at me since I started singing.

"That was just...wow" He managed to say and I felt my cheeks heat up.

"Peeta look at my drawing" Willow said and handed Peeta her drawing, breaking the eye contact between us. I looked away from the two and blinked. '_What the hell are you doing Katniss, you can't do this, you have Willow to think about' _I kept repeating this in my head. I turned back to Willow and Peeta and saw that she was laughing and I smiled, I was envious about how quick she was to trust people but then again to her the world was a happy innocent place.

"What do you have next?" The words escaped my mouth without me realising.

"Um a free period" Peeta said.

"Same here, I'll text Clove and tell her not to worry about you" I told Peeta.

"Okay" Peeta said and went back to entertaining Willow.

K: Hey, no need to take Peeta to his next class, we both have free periods.

C: Okay, that's cool. How's Willow going?

K: Yeah she's good; Peeta and her are getting along fine.

C: Really? And how's that going?

K: It's interesting, Willow loves him.

C: Willow loves everyone one.

K: Yeah but she's doing that smile and laugh she only ever does around Prim, Mum, Gale and me.

C: Oh okay, well how are you liking Peeta?

K: He's seems nice and very sweet.

C: How about his muscles?

K: Haha nice Clove, but they are very impressive.

C: Hey! There is nothing wrong with looking.

K: May I remind you, your dating someone.

C: Anndddd?

K: Haha never mind.

C: Okay, I gotta go; I'm getting dirty looks from the teacher.

K: Alright, don't get detention.

C: Not making any promises.

"What are you smiling at?" Peeta said. I looked up and saw Peeta looking at me while Willow was d again.

"Clove" I said smiling again.

"What she say?" Peeta asked and I thought might as well tell him it'll be funny to see both his and Clove's reaction.

"Clove likes your muscles" I told him and I saw him give me a small smile.

"Really?" Peeta said.

"Haha yes, but she's happy with Cato" I told him.

"So what do you think of my muscles?" Peeta said with a goofy grin on his face.

"I don't know...they look a bit small to me" I said smiling.

"Small" Peeta said, playing along.

"Yeah I mean they look tiny" I said.

"Tiny compared to body builders on steroids?" Peeta said and I pretended to think about it for a minute.

"Yeah definitely tiny compared to them" I agreed and then laughed. Paylor walked in from one of the practise rooms and over to us.

"Hey Katniss, the bell is going to go in about 10 minutes, do you wanna leave early so you can get Willow out of the halls when this period ends?" Paylor asked and I gave her a thankful look.

"Yeah I will if that's alright" I told her and picked up Willow.

"I'm supposed to talk Peeta to his next class" I told Paylor.

"Yeah sure go head, Peeta you can leave early too" Paylor said and Peeta gave her a smile and got up with his stuff and picked up mine too.

"I thought you might need a hand" Peeta said and smiled at me while I walked out the door of the music room.

"Let's go to my locker first" I told Peeta and lead the way. When I got there I took Willows bag out the got mine and put the books in there that I needed for homework. I then picked up both bags and put them over my free shoulder.

"Ok, I'm done, off to yours" I said and Peeta smiled and walked over to his which was just down the hall from mine.

"Momma what's that?" Willow asked for the tenth time, she continued to ask me what everything she pasted was.

"A classroom buba" I told her.

"Oh, what's that?" She asked.

"Lockers, it's where people put their bags and books, like what Momma just got her bag out of" I told her.

"Does Peeta have one too?" Willow asked looking around for him.

"Yes, just up there?" I said pointing to Peeta at the end of the hall. Willow turned around and stopped Peeta. Peeta made his way back to us with his bag.

"So where to for our free period?" Peeta asked.

"Well usually we're supposed to be in the library working on our homework or we can go to the senior lounge." I told Peeta.

"Okay, so which one do you want to go to?" Peeta asked.

"Uh the lounge if that's alright with you, it has little study rooms that we can use that are private" I said and looked at Peeta

"Okay, so are we gonna go there now?" Peeta asked and I nodded and lead the way out of the hall. I had almost made it out of the school without being spotted with Willow but of course the odds just weren't in my favour today.

"Well look what we have here" Glimmer said, I'd recognise that voice anywhere.

"Look, Katniss brought her daughter to school" Glimmer said again. I turned around and saw my ex group of friends sitting in the senior lounge, were we used to hang out when we ditched.

"Yeah I did, so move on build a bridge and get over it" I told them and continued to walk with Peeta next to me.

"Slut" Glimmer said loud enough for me to hear but luckily Willow didn't. We continued walking until we came to an empty room; I opened the door and walked in. The rooms were stocked with everything we could need; they had desks, stuff to write with and on, books, beanbags and a little fridge that was always full. I put Willow down and got a few of her toys out of her bag so she had something to do. I sat down in one of the beanbags and tried to stop the tears that were threatening to spill. Peeta put his bag down next to the door and walked over to me. Willow was off in her own world playing and wasn't paying attention to us on the other side of the room. Peeta held his hands out for me. I stared at them, trying to figure out if he was going to hurt me.

_I was walking home after my shift at Sae's soup joint when I had fallen over. I had twisted my ankle and a man passing by had held his hands out to me, I thought he was going to help me, but he raped me…_

I was brought back from my flashback to Peeta calling me.

"Katniss, I'm not going to hurt you" Peeta said still holding his hand out for me. I looked at his hands for a minute deciding if I could trust him enough to let him touch me. And I did something that surprised me, I grabbed hold of them and he pulled me up out of the beanbag and towards his chest, hugging me, and I just started crying, my hands on his chest, his hands rubbing my back as he whispered soothing words to me.

"I'm sorry about your shirt" I told him once I had finished crying.

"It's just a shirt Katniss, are you okay?" He asked me, and I saw nothing but concern and worry.

"Even though it's something I get called daily, I still get hurt every time someone yells it at me, because it's not true, I'm not a slut" I whispered the last part, Peeta looked over my head at Willow who was still off in her own little world.

"I don't believe you are, but what happened?" Peeta asked me and I shook my head.

_He ripped my shirt off…_Peeta looked at me with concern, like he was actually really worried about me…_he hit me and kept telling me that if I screamed for help then he would kill me…_Peeta's blue eyes were looking straight into mine…_The man pushed me up against the wall in his house, as he took my innocence away from me…_Peeta grabbed a bottle of water from the mini fridge and walked back over to me…_"Katniss" Cinna's voice called to me. "Sometimes telling people about it can make things better"_

"Katniss" I heard a whisper.

"Katniss" It got louder.

"Katniss, are you okay, here drink some water" I opened my eyes and saw Peeta, handing me a bottle of water. I took it and drain half of the bottle in one go.

"What happened?" I asked him.

"You closed your eyes and nearly fell over, I caught you and sat you down in the beanbag, trying to wake you up" Peeta told me and I had some more water.

"I wish these flashbacks would stop" I said quietly, but somehow Peeta heard me and looked at me.

"What flashbacks?" Peeta asked and I shook my head.

"I can't Peeta, please don't ask" I looked at him, pleading with my eyes and he nodded.

"I'm going to go home now" I told Peeta, he looked at me and nodded. I walked over to Willow and picked her up, packing her toys away too.

"Say bye-bye to Peeta" I told her.

"Bye-bye Peeta" Willow said and blew him kisses.

"Bye Willow, it was nice meeting you" Peeta said and then he looked at me.

"See you tomorrow Katniss?" Peeta asked.

"Yep" I told him, I walked up toward him and he hugged me and to my surprise again when we broke apart I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. I walked out of the room as fast as I could and exited the Lounge nearly running. I got out my phone and texted Gale.

K: Hey Gale can you please take Prim home for me?

G: Yeah sure, no problem.

K: Thank you so much, you're a life saver.

I then proceeded to text Clove.

K: I kissed him. Peeta.

C: You did what?!

**Okay hey guys, wow that is the most writing I have even done in one chapter, I hope you all enjoyed it. It took some time to write so please savour the moment of reading it. And I hope you are all looking forward to the twists I have in store for this story.**


	3. Chapter 3

Katniss's POV

It didn't surprise me that by the time I had gotten home Clove was already there waiting for me. I swear sometimes that girl drives like a maniac. I pulled up in the drive way and stopped my car. Willow was asleep in her car seat so I quickly and quietly got her out and brought her into the house, Clove was right on my heels carrying Willow's stuff. I placed Willow in her crib, shut the door and then lead Clove outside away from Willow so she wouldn't wake her up if she started yelling.

"So would you like to tell me what happened?" Clove asked her voice calm and collected. I told her the whole story. When I got to the end I couldn't even describe the look Clove was giving me, it was like she was happy for me but annoyed at me and weary at the same time.

"Okay so you let some guy you've known for one day hug you, but when Annie touched your hand today you freaked out" Clove said in a questioning tone.

"Look what happens if I touch you" Clove said and put her hand on my shoulder and I nearly jumped out of my skin and moved away from Clove. Clove gave me a minute to calm down before she started speaking again.

"And then you kissed him on the cheek" Clove finished and I nodded in agreement.

"Well, you're insane" Clove concluded and we looked at each other and started laughing. After a few minutes we finally calmed down and headed back into the house. I got myself a glass of water and Clove headed straight for my fridge, I swear this girl eats like a pig but doesn't gain any weight. Clove grabbed a can of whip cream and sprayed it into her mouth.

"You know, I use that on my pancakes" I told her and she smiled at with whip cream in her mouth.

"So…Peeta huh?" Clove said to me.

"What about him?" I asked taking a sip of water.

"Oh I don't know he's hot, amazing body, kind, totally into you, sweet and caring" Clove said putting more whip cream into her mouth. I chocked on my water.

"I'm sorry what, repeat that please?" I asked Clove.

"He's hot, amazing body, kind, totally into you, sweet and caring" Clove said.

"He's what? No I mean I met him today" I told her.

"Yeah I know. He told me that you sung for Willow" Clove said.

"Yeah I did, and Peeta was there. He told me how you're voice made everything stop, everyone stopped to listen" Clove said and I stood there shocked.

"He said that?" I asked and clove nodded.

"How come none of your friends have heard you sing before?" Clove asked looking a bit hurt.

"I wasn't singing for Peeta, I was singing for Willow, she asked me too" I told her and she nodded. Clove's phone went off.

"Sorry I have to go, Cato is taking me out tonight" Clove said as she put her phone away.

"Yeah Gale and Prim should be here soon" I told her and she nodded.

"Okay, bye Kat see you tomorrow" Clove said as she made her way out the door.

Once Clove left I went about cleaning the kitchen. Ever since 'it' happened I found a way to not think about it is to keep busy, never have a moment to stop and think. That's the reason that this house is so clean, and if everything is clean I cook. There's always heaps of food in the fridge for everyone and plenty of stuff for mum and Prim to take to work or school.

After the kitchen was clean I made some blueberry muffins. By the time Gale and Prim had gotten here the muffins had just come out of the oven.

"Something smells good" Gale said as him and Prim walked into the kitchen.

"Careful, they've just come out of the oven" I told Gale has he went to grab one.

"Katniss!" Prim yelled and I shushed her.

"Willow is asleep upstairs Prim, please don't wake her up" I told her and she closed her mouth and gave me an apologetic look. We were all quiet for a moment waiting to hear Willow crying but it remained silent.

"I have homework to do" Prim said and frowned.

"What's wrong with that, you know that if you wanna be a doctor you have to do really well at school" I told her and she sighed.

"I know, I know" Prim said and walked upstairs to her bedroom.

"So are you okay Catnip?" Gale asked using his nickname for me.

"What do you mean?" I asked him.

"You left school early and asked me to drive Prim home, something must wrong" Gale told me.

"Glimmer and the rest of that group happened" I told him.

"I mean I'm used to all the names and the whispers and it doesn't get to me but when they do it in front of Willow and don't even care if she hears it or not" I told Gale, my voice getting angrier with every word I spoke. Gale, who had known me for a few years and was like the older brother I never had, tried to comfort me. He put his arms around me and attempted to give me a hug. I shrieked and tried to wriggle my way out of his hold the memories started to flash back and I started kicking him away and screaming. Gale let go and I moved away from him letting my heart rate calm down.

"Katniss I…I'm…" Gale tried to say but I shook my head at him, tears in my eyes.

"Katniss! Are you okay?" Prim yelled running down the stairs. When she got into the kitchen hers eyes took in the situation.

"Gale I think you should leave" Prim told him, authority in her voice.

"Okay and I'm sorry Katniss" Gale said and he tried to give me a hug but I backed away from him and held up my hand as a warning not to come any closer. Gale got the message and backed off. With one last sorry glance he left, and a few moments later I heard his car start and then fade away.

"Katniss are you okay?" Prim asked me and I nodded my head unconvincingly.

"Come on Katniss, let's get you cleaned up" Prim said and she helped my upstairs into the bathroom and turned the shower on for me. She left me to get undressed and shower. The running water on my back helps me calm down.

10 minutes later I got out of the bathroom and was heading downstairs when door bell rang and it woke up Willow up which resulted in her starting to cry.

"Prim can you get the door" I yelled to Prim as the door bell rang again. But Prim didn't answer. I went down stairs and saw she was outside and hadn't heard the door bell or me. With Willow still in my arms and crying I headed to the door.

"Coming" I yelled as the door bell was rung again. I opened it and saw a van parked out front with Mellark bakery written on the side. A boy stood at my door holding a crate with baked goodies on it and it took me a minute to recognize him.

"Peeta?" I said wondering why he was here.

"Katniss, hey" Peeta said.

"Hi, um not trying to be rude but why are you here?" I asked him confused by the situation.

"Oh since my family and I are new to town and no one knows about the family bakery we're giving out free samples" Peeta said.

"Oh okay, cool" I said and Willow stopped crying and looked at Peeta.

"Peetaa" Willow said and smiled at him.

"Hello Willow, do you want a cupcake?" Peeta asked and looked at me and I nodded.

"Which one would you like?" Peeta asked and Willow looked at the cupcakes that were sitting in the crate.

"The pink one" Willow finally decided and I smiled, as hard as I've tried she still loves pink.

"Here you go" Peeta said handing Willow a pink frosted cupcake with a butterfly made from icing. Willow smiled at Peeta and thanked him. He then handed me a green frosted cookie that looked like a hypnotic spiral but with different shades of green.

"Wow that's amazing, who did it?" I asked him.

"I do, that's what got me started on art" Peeta said and gave me a smile.

"Well I better get going" Peeta said and I nodded.

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow" I told him and he hugged me goodbye and I didn't flinch away, I embraced it with my free hand and though I'd never admit it to anyone I really liked the feeling of being hugged by Peeta. We parted and he waved at Willow and Willow waved goodbye to Peeta as he walked back to the van.

**The next day**

"Hey Katniss" Annie said to me as I was walking towards her, Clove and Jo sitting down eating lunch.

"Hey" I said to the three of them as I sat next to Jo.

"So Gale looks upset today" Annie said to us, noticing how Gale looked, he was standing with the guys but he wasn't his normal self, he was kind of withdrawn from everyone and if he caught my eye he would give me a apologetic look and I would turn away. My friends new not to touch me so I don't know why he tried to hug me. Peeta walked over to the four of us.

"Hey girls" he said with a smile.

"Hi Peeta, how are you today?" Annie asked as he sat down next to me and begun talking to her. I zoned out of the conversation, like I always do, until I got hungry so I reached into my bag and brought out the first thing my hand got, and it was Peeta's cookie. I broke off a little piece and tried it and oh my, it was amazing. I woke out of my day dream the conversation was still going but Peeta wasn't talking, he was watching me try the cookie.

"Do you like it?" Peeta whispered to me and I looked up at him.

"Yeah it's amazing" I told him and he smiled at me.

"I can bring more if you want?" Peeta asked me and I smiled back at him.

"Yeah, I'd like that" I told him and I really meant it. We kept talking and the guys soon joined us. I noticed how Gale kept looking at me apologetically every so often and it started to annoy me. Peeta got my attention again by telling me this really corny joke and I couldn't help but laugh at his attempt to make me laugh. We kept up our conversation and I noticed Clove and Jo talking quietly.

"She actually let him touch her?" Jo said quietly and my ears zeroed in on their conversation.

"Yeah, and she kissed him yesterday" Clove said back and I knew that they were talking about me.

"But why is Gale so upset?" Jo asked confused. Peeta continued to talk to me so I smiled and nodded.

"Because he hugged Katniss yesterday" Clove told Jo.

"And I'm guessing she was the way she always is when someone tries to hug her" Jo said and I saw Clove nod out of the corner of my eye. That really got me thinking, why had I let Peeta hug me twice when I've known him for two days but when it comes to Gale, someone I've known for years, I start kicking, screaming and crying like a little girl.

"But what's making Gale so upset, I mean he knows not to touch her, we all do" Jo said.

"Because he heard that Peeta and Katniss hugged and he thought she was getting better" Clove whispered back. I turned my head and looked at Gale. He was glaring at Peeta, and I had realised that Peeta had stopped talking.

"Why is Gale glaring at me?" Peeta asked me, confusion present in his voice.

"Because I let you hug me" I told him and looked back at him to see that he was more confused than ever.

"You're the first person other than my mother, sister and daughter that I've let touch me" I told him back.

"I still don't understand" He told me.

"Good, I don't want you to understand" I told him looking away from him, okay maybe I was a bit harsh but I just wanted to stop talking about it.

"Katniss, you know you can trust me right" Peeta told me in a small voice, I turned to look at him and saw that he was being sincere.

"I...I" I tried to saw but nothing came out. Peeta just waited not forcing me to say anything but he touch my hand in a caring gesture. I looked down and noticed that everyone had gone quiet around me. I looked up and saw my friends looking at me, trying to decipher what my next move would be. I made the mistake of looking at Gale. I could see the hurt in his eyes as he stared at Peeta's hand on top of mine. I looked back at Peeta and tears came to my eyes.

"I'm sorry" I whispered to everyone, to no one. I took my hand away from Peeta's and got up and ran out of the cafeteria. I ran to a janitor's closet and hid inside, letting my silent tears escape.

Annie's POV (I don't change the pov often; it's just so you can see what happens after Katniss leaves)

After Katniss had run off, everyone was quiet for about 2 seconds until Gale started.

"Good job Mellark" He said harshly.

"Gale!" I yelled at him, it wasn't Peeta's fault, he hadn't done anything.

"What, look what he did to her" Gale yelled back.

"Excuse me; I didn't do anything to her, I was talking to her" Peeta said in an even tone. He didn't even raise his voice and it sounded so calm.

"Oh really Mellark, you didn't do anything. Then why did she go running off crying?" Gale yelled at Peeta and I looked at Peeta's face, it was calm not a trace of anger anywhere, but his eyes gave him away. I saw that he was worried, really worried and I knew it was about Katniss.

"Gale calm down, Peeta has done nothing wrong, just because of what happened last night doesn't mean that you have to act like a dick" Clove said and everyone turned to look at her. What had happened last night? I looked at Finnick for an explanation but he shook his head, telling me that he would tell me later.

"Excuse me, I think it does give me a right to act anyway I want" Gale hissed back.

"No it doesn't" Jo told him. Okay seriously what was happening?

"Just because she won't let you in, doesn't mean you have to act like a total dick to the one person she actually is letting in" Finnick told him and I saw Gale's face soften, has he took in Finnick's words.

"You should be happy that she's letting someone in other then her mum and sister" Clove told him and he just glared down at his food. I looked around and saw that Peeta wasn't there anymore; he must have left while everyone was yelling at Gale. God I hope everything is okay with Katniss.

Katniss's POV (okay so I promise I won't do that much, I just wanted you to see that scene)

I was still sitting in the closet, I hadn't moved. My sobs got louder but they weren't loud enough for someone who was passing by to hear them. My heart stopped when I heard a knock on the door.

"Katniss, it's Peeta, please open the door" I heard Peeta say. I sat there for a moment thinking about what I should do.

"Katniss, I'm not leaving until you open this door and let me in" He told me and I got up, knowing that it was pointless to tell him to leave me alone. I opened the door and he stepping in and closed it behind him.

"Well this is the second time you've seen me cry, you're doing pretty well seeing as none of my other friends have seen me cry once" I told him and gave him a fake smile.

"So am I a friend now?" Peeta asked me.

"Well you've managed to see more of me than any of my friends in two days. Yeah I think that makes us friends" I told him.

"So friends share secrets, right?" He asked me.

"Sometimes, but I not really a sharing type" I told him.

"Well how about I tell you a secret and then you tell me one?" He asked me and I gave him a small smile.

"Okay, deal" I told him and in the small amount of light in the closet I saw him smile too.

"But these secrets stay between us, no one else will ever know about them" Peeta said and I nodded.

"Of course" I told him.

"Okay, well here's my secret...I get abused by my mum" He told me and my breath got caught in my throat.

"What?" I said, wondering why someone would ever want to hurt Peeta, he was so kind and sweet and gentle.

"Yeah" He said and he looked into my eyes. I did the only thing that felt natural at that point in time. I hugged him and he hugged me back, his arms wrapping around my waist, pulling me closer to him. We stood there for a while, in each other's arms.

"What's your secret?" Peeta asked while we were still hugging. I pulled back away from him so I could talk.

"Well, almost three years ago, I...I was...um...raped" I managed to spit out. I looked down not wanting to see the look on his face.

"So Willow is..." Peeta started to say but stopped, not knowing how to finish the sentence.

"Yep" I told him.

"Katniss" Peeta whispered and then I was in his arms sobbing, again. After a few minutes I finally calmed down but I didn't move away from him. Peeta pulled back, just enough so that he could see my face.

"I must look like a mess" I told him, my eyes were probably red and puffy, tears staining my cheeks.

"Why do you care how you look, you don't seem to strike me as someone who cares about their looks?" Peeta said kindly.

"I usually don't" I agreed with him. "But I want to look nice now" I said and looked up at him.

To give you the short version, right then and there was where I had my first kiss. It wasn't like how the movies make it out to be. It was sweet and it was the type of kiss that made me want another one.


End file.
